How Sweet the Sound
by Regret Not A Thing
Summary: --Fear has many eyes, and can see things underground.-- Chase has faith in people. He shouldn't. An exploration of now, then, and the time in between. ChaseCameron. AU, no one leaves, Chase is NOT fired. NO SEASON 4!


Disclaimer: All I own is a small bookcase, bed and enough books to sink a boat. Also some clothes. That's it. No House. Not even a small apartment.

Summary: This fic explores Chase and Cameron's relationship, his relationship with his parents, as well as how events change his relationship with Cameron. Set a few days after Chase and Cameron break up. ChaseCameron, slight CuddyWilson. AU-ish. No Season 4. No New Team.

_I hope you like!_

How Sweet the Sound.

Chapter 1: Promises

"Love is a promise delivered already broken."_-Steve Martin _

"Mama?" Six-year-old Chase turned to look at his mother, swinging his soccer boot clad feet, barely grazing the grass with the tips of his toes. His feet did not even touch the ground.

"Yes Robbie?" His mother on the park bench beside him spoke over the chatter of many overexcited children.

"Do you think Dad really will come to my soccer game?" He stopped swinging his legs.

His mother smiled. "Of course he will, honey. He's just a little late, that's all. He'll be here when your game starts."

"Okay." He resumed the swinging.

He waited ten minutes.

"Robbie, you should really put your shin guards on, you'll be playing before long."

"Yeah. I hope dad gets here soon."

"He will."

_He won't._

He waited twenty minutes.

"Your match is next."

Pause.

"Maybe he got the wrong time."

"Maybe." Robbie agreed. "Or maybe there's a traffic jam."

_Or maybe he forgot._

_Or maybe he couldn't be bothered, didn't think it was worth the effort._

He waited half an hour.

"Robbie, you need to be on the field now."

"I'll just wait a few more minutes mum, he'll be here soon."

_He'll be here._

_He has to be. _

_He can't miss it._

_Not again._

He waited.

And waited.

And _waited_.

He waited so long that the game started without him and he didn't get to play.

But Rowan never arrived.

"_Dad, I've got a soccer match tomorrow, at 10:30, can you come?"_

"_Certainly Robert." His father didn't look up from the newspaper, "I've just got to get some files from work in the morning. I'll meet you there. Where's the match being held?"_

"_She- feld Park."_

"Sheffield, _Robert, I can't stand sloppy pronunciation. Well Sheffield's not too far. I'll be there."_

"_Promise dad?"_

"_Yes, yes, I promise Robert, I'll be there."_

"_Promise?"_

_Promise it won't be like last time, where I tried really hard because I thought you were watching?_

_Promise it won't be like the time before that, when everyone else's dads hugged their sons when we won, and I got Man of the Match and everyone said my dad must be really proud and Robbie wish so much that his dad was proud of him._

_Robert Chase lived upon wishes._

_But wishes are stupid. _

_And they don't work._

_He's figured that out now._

_Is it called a promise if you don't keep it?_

_Is there are word for a broken promise?_

_A broken heart?_

"I promise Robert, I'll be there."

He had promised.

---------

They had slept together a second time, and the day after, Chase has invited her out to dinner.

"I've made a reservation at Brents, y'know the, um, Italian place on 23rd."

"Oh," Cameron had been somewhat surprised, "I thought I made this clear, it's just sex."

He'd grinned. "I know, but that doesn't mean we can't have dinner beforehand, right?"

"Um… I suppose, just remember, no strings."

"Yeah, I know. The reservation's for seven, by the way."

"OK, I'll be there."

Something about the way she said it must have stuck a chord within Chase. His expression sobered.

"Promise?"

"What is this, third grade? Yes, Chase, I pinkie promise with a cherry on top, OK? I'll be there. Now, I believe we do have an MRI to complete."

He had smiled, and the shadow across his features had been gone. "I believe we do."

Chase had arrived half an hour early, and ordered the most expensive champagne on the list. He felt extremely self-conscious, sitting in an expensive restaurant alone, especially when eight came around and Cameron hadn't turn up. Maybe she was late. 

_Maybe something had come up._

_Maybe she just didn't think he was worth the time._

_He had opened the champagne._

_He waited until ten, and then gave up and left._

It had been about half past eleven when she knocked on the door.

"Cameron?"

"Sorry I couldn't make dinner. I was working. House wanted me to stay late and do some paperwork."

That was the excuse she gave. After he had waited for _hours_? Been laughed at by couples at other tables all because she had wanted to please House, a man incapable of loving anything, let alone another human being?

"But, I was thinking, that we could still… you know."

But oh, God he _loved_ her.

He was just as much of a fool for Cameron as she was for House.

She had kissed him, and he let her.

She unbuttoned his shirt, and he let her.

She used him again and again and again, and he let her because being close to her was what he wanted, even if it only meant sex.

_How many times is she going to do this to you, how many times are you going to let her?_

_As many times as it takes._

She had thrown him away for a man who didn't give a damn about her.

But then, why should he expect anything different? Everyone always threw him away when something better came along.

_His father threw him away for work._

_His mother threw him away for alcohol._

_Robert Chase no longer slept upon wishes._

_Now he slept upon wasted dreams and unkept vows._

_Is there are word for broken promises?_

_Broken hearts?_

"I pinkie promise with a cherry on top, OK Chase? I'll be there."

She had promised.

----------

"Ah, Cameron. Just the blonde I'm looking for! Well, actually," House hobbled towards her, lowering his voice in mock secrecy, "the blonde I'm looking for is in Rheumatology, but she won't have me. You're my second resort I'm afraid."

"What do you want House?"

"Aww, don't be like that. Just because you're doing wombat now doesn't mean you can't do me as well. You know you want to."

"Leave."

"You're just crabby 'cos I won't love you and you've had to settle for sex with Chase instead."

"House," Cameron sighed, "I'm busy. If you're looking for pointless banter, Wilson's office is that way."

"Wilson's busy telling people that they're lives are about to end. Being a doctor's hard work you know."

She was determined to ignore him.

"Speaking of which-"

Ignore him.

"- I thought today, you might like to play doctor-"

Ignoring.

"- and have some fun with me and my team, you know how the one you're part of."

"Are you saying we have a case?"

"My God, she's a genius!"

"So we have a case?"

"No."

" Look House, I've been working late a lot recently, so I'm not in the mood, OK?

"Sure. You've been working late. If you define 'working late' as 'sleeping with Chase'."

"House, are you just trying to see how far you can push me before I crack?"

"No, I was trying to see if I could lure you into my office undetected. Foiled again!"

"Go away."

"Please don't make me beg. Woo you with my good looks. Sing to you from afar."

"I'll ask you once more: do we have a case?" She looked up.

He met her gaze unfalteringly and she saw something in his eyes other than humour. "Trust me, we have a case."

"Alright."

"Yay! All of us together again. The whole team. We'd better go before I get all nostalgic and teary and start reminiscing about days of yore."

Cameron followed after him, and then stopped. "But I thought Chase was on holiday, if you mean the whole team, doesn't that require him to be there?"

House nodded his eyes impossibly blue.

"Oh, believe me, Chase is no longer absent."

--------

House had refused to tell her anything about the case so far, and Cameron was beginning to wonder whether they really did have one. But her clinic duty interrupted, there was really no point going back and so she may as well just play along with House's little play.

They reached their office, and Cameron could see Foreman inside, playing with the tennis ball. She wondered where Chase was. Something a little like guilt swelled within her, but was dismissed. House was looking at her expectantly.

"Well, aren't you going to opened the door for the poor, old cripple?"

Cameron roller her eyes, opened the door, and they both stepped inside the office.

"Right, thirty-three year-old male; fever, chills, tiredness, headaches-"

"Um, House I'm sorry," Foreman interrupted with his usual scepticism, "but aren't these flu-like symptoms?"

"Yes, what's your point?"

"So you don't think it could just be… the flu?"

"Other symptoms include the shakes and asthenia. That's the thing about you black people, you never learn… wait the white guy's finished talking before you start questioning his credibility. Would've saved you a whole lot of trouble."

"It could still just be the flu." Cameron pointed out, gesturing vaguely to the symptoms on the whiteboard.

"Does the flu cause the shakes?"

"Exhaustion leads to muscle weakness, muscle weakness leads to-"

"Yeah, yeah. But how does flu explain asthenia?" Foreman had turn against his own theory.

"Well, in some cases severe exhaustion could cause-"

"Weakness… but never to the extent of asthenia."

"What do you think then?"

"There are so many possibilities, the symptoms are so broad that it's impossible to think of even a few possibilities. We need more information."

"Seek and you shall find!" House declared.

"Well… the best thing to look at first would be his medical file."

"Oh no, no, no my minions; the file is mine, and I can tell you now, there is nothing of medical relevance inside it."

"Maybe not to you, but maybe if one of us looks at it we'll pick up something-"

"That a genius like me didn't? I think not."

"Well, the next best thing would be to check out his house, and place of work. There could be environmental causes, or at the very least we could check out if this guy's on any medication."

"Very good idea. Cameron, Foreman, go forth to,'' House regarded the file, "34A Rembrandt Terrace."

Cameron's face drained, and her eyes became impossibly wide as she snatched the medical file out of House's hands and scanned briefly over the contents before throwing it on the table.

"That's impossible, I saw him a few days ago, he was fine."

"Two days is a long time."

"Wait, who are we-" Foreman was still completely unaware of the situation.

"Oh my god… what's wrong with him?"

"Um, we don't know. Hence the reason the case is in Diagnostics."

"I- I'm going to see him." A very unsettled Cameron swept out of the room, hands shaking slightly, whilst Foreman tried to discern exactly what the situation was.

"You don't know what room he's in!" House yelled.

"I'll find out."

"You've broken up!" House pointed out, leaning out the door after her, "and besides, wombats are really the maternal types."

By this point Foreman was perusing the file that had been discarded on the glass tabletop.

House shook his head. "Women. Well Foreman, I guess you and me will have to break in instead, just like old times, eh?"

Foreman looked up and House, frowning slightly. "You said 33-year-old male, what you didn't say was a name."

House stood up and headed for the door. Foreman followed, look of disbelief crossing his features.

"Our new patient is Chase?"

--------

Yay! First chappie done. I don't know what the reaction to this fic will be; it's an exploration of Chase's childhood, relationship with Cameron and what would happen if that relationship were put under the pressure of say… illness.

Basically the chapter format is like this _scene from Chase's childhood, reflection of his relationship with Cameron, and then the story itself, which is the majority of the chapter. They will all tie in together throughout. It's basically for fans of Chase._

Slight cliffie there.

Reviews are love, please review!!


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